Our Ninja Way
by lookitstj
Summary: "They say our parents were part of some "miracle generation", but we don't care. We'll make our own mark on the world. We have our dreams and our goals and no matter what, we'll reach them. Yeah we're different, but that doesn't matter. We all agree on one thing: To follow our nindo and to never give up on ourselves and to never give up on each other." Next-generation story.
1. We're Officially Genin: Our Ninja Path U

**Chapter I - We're Officially Genin: Our Ninja Path Unfolds!**

It was a nice day outside, Inuzuka Kagewa noted as he strolled casually towards the Ninja Academy with his dog, Aomaru, relaxing faithfully on top of his head. He was late, but that was alright since no actual work would be getting done today. The only thing going on was Udon-sensei reading out the Genin Squad assignments to the students. Kagewa had thus decided today was the perfect day to sleep in for a little bit. His father was out on a mission and it was unlikely Udon would tell.

After all, Kagewa _had_ already passed the Genin Exam, so it's not like he could kept in the Academy. At least, that's how Kagewa saw it. Upon further thinking, however, he decided that it was best to get to the Academy as quickly as possible.

"Will you just shut up Hikaru!" Rock Ame barked towards her orange-haired classmate. The boy in question, Kennohou Hikaru, gave a careless shrug.

"You started it Ame, bragging about how you're the best TaiJutsu user in the class when that distinction clearly belongs to me." He shot back, his voice nonchalant, but a challenge in his eyes.

"Get over yourself, you're so annoying." Ame responded angrily as she turned to face the front. The class let out a collective breath. The clashes between Ame and Hikaru happened frequently and intensely and usually it took either Udon-sensei himself or a combination of the other students to calm the two down. All of the members hoped that the situation wouldn't escalate. But Hikaru always got the last word. Always.

"I mean after all, no matter how good you are, as a guy I'll always be better." Hikaru said innocently. Ame slammed her hands on the table, causing it to crack slightly, and turned to glare at her rival.

"That is _it _Hikaru!" Ame shouted as she launched herself towards him. Ame's shin met Hikaru's forearm in a rather loud thud. Fast as a blink, Hikaru grabbed Ame's ankle and flung her across the room but the kunoichi managed to right herself mid-air and land feet-first on the opposite wall. Without skipping a beat, she had disappeared and was suddenly behind Hikaru who barely managed to duck a kick.

It was then that Kagewa walked. He looked at the two sparring, sighed, and went to sit by his best friend, Oumaru Tate.

"They're at it again?" Kagewa asked, although he didn't seem particularly surprised. Next to him, Tate yawned.

"Yup. Same story as usual." He responded, doodling on his desk with a pencil. Kagewa chuckled a bit, blocking out the sounds of hand-to-hand combat going on behind him. The two boys sat in silence for a few moments.

"Udon-sensei is really late, huh?" Tate wondered out loud.

"See? I told you there was no point in getting here early. I heard that Udon-sensei always comes late when he's assigning the Genin Squads. Apparently it takes the Hokage a while to finalize them." Kagewa stated with a toothy grin. Tate mocked him with his hand.

"Yeah yeah, you were right. Blah blah blah." He said with a mischievous grin.

"Shut up chibi," Kagewa shot back.

"The hell you say, dog-breath?" Tate responded, causing Kagewa to break out into laughter. Tate seethed in his seat while Kagewa attempted to stop laughing.

"Someone should...probably...stop them," he said between chuckles.

"Yeah," Tate said with a short laugh. "Probably." With a sigh, Kagewa stood up and placed Aomaru in front of Tate. The dog, apparently dissatisfied with the cold, wooden desk, immediately jumped into Tate's lap. Kagewa took a deep breath just as Ame and Hikaru were set to clash again. In a flash, he was behind Hikaru and had managed to pull back the boy's fist. At the same time, another individual had appeared and managed to deflect Ame's kick.

"Oh, Kosame, thanks." Kagewa said, looking up to see the dark-haired girl known as Uchiha Kosame. She gave a polite nod.

"Sure thing Kagewa." She replied. Ame and Hikaru gave their respective interferers irritated glances but before more words could be said, Udon-sensei walked in with a sheet of paper at his side. He surveyed the classroom, saw the four individuals standing and figured he pretty much knew what happened. It was no secret that Ame and Hikaru's rivalry ran deep. Thank goodness the two weren't on the same team.

"Alright students, listen up. You guys are officially Genin now. Gone are the days of us Academy teachers holding your hand through various practices. From now on, you're real ninja. As Genin, you are required to be placed into teams of 3 and each team will be supervised by a Jonin instructor. It's definitely been...interesting. And now I wish you guys good luck on the rest of your journeys." Udon stopped speaking a bit so that the students could feel proud of themselves.

This class had been an interesting one. Just the fighting between Ame and Hikaru and the pranks from Kagewa and Tate alone made this easily one of the liveliest classes in the Ninja Academy's history. Bonds had been forged, rivalries formed, and life-long friendships made. Udon felt proud.

"And now, I will announce the 3-Man Genin Squads. First off is Squad 1: Akimichi Chomaru, Nara Mesu, and Kaien Inoue." Udon began, his eyes wandering towards the latest generation of Ino-Shika-Cho. Although the names weren't quite traditional, there was no doubt that three individuals were extremely close. Chomaru was too excited to notice the envious glances of the other boys in the classroom. He was teamed with two of his best friends. So they happened to be two of the cutest girls in the class, Mesu and Inoue were friends first.

"And now for Squad 4," Udon began after rattling off a few more names. "Rock Ame." Udon looked up and could practically hear Ame's thoughts as she begged not to be on a team with Hikaru.

"Fuji Syusuke, and Shirotori Tsubame." Ame let out a huge sigh of relief and then looked for her new teammates. She knew Syusuke and Tsubame were fairly good friends, but she had never really interacted with them much. There were others that Ame would have preferred to been teamed with, but as long as she wasn't with Hikaru, she didn't mind. In her thoughts, Ame realized she had missed Squad 5.

"Squad 6: Inuzuka Kagewa, Oumaru Tate, and Uchiha Kosame." Udon read. Tate and Kagewa high-fived excitedly, causing Udon to feel sorry for the poor soul forced to be their Jonin instructor. After celebrating, Tate turned and gave Kosame a thumbs-up. Kosame smiled and laughed slightly. Udon was glad that Kosame had Tate and Kagewa for partners. The poor girl had a tough time in the village due to her name and pranksters like those two would probably help her lighten up.

"On squad 7, we have Kennohou Hikaru, Sarutobi Ryo, and Kurama Yakumo." Hikaru looked down at the shy and reserved Yakumo. He had never really noticed her before, and all he knew was the she was a good GenJutsu user. Hikaru then looked towards Ryo, who was staring at Hikaru. The two had a small rivalry, with Hikaru being a top TaiJutsu user and Ryo being a top NinJutsu user.

Udon read off a few more teams, ending with Squad 14.

"Well then you guys, that's all I have for you. The only thing I can say is good luck and that you'll be meeting your Jonin senseis in a few hours after lunch. For the final time, class dismissed." Udon said. And just like that, he was gone. The students slowly poured out of the room, all of them equally excited to finally be done with the Academy and finally starting on their ninja careers.

* * *

"Hey Tate," Kagewa called out. The incredibly short Tate turned to see his best friend walking towards him, bento in hand. "My mom wanted to know if you're gonna have dinner with us tonight?" Tate thought the question over while he chewed his food.

"Yeah probably," he answered. "Mom's gonna be busy, Dad's still on his mission, and Fuji's doing whatever it is Fuji does." Tate explained.

"Sweet." Kagewa said before he began eating. He had just started when Aomaru let out a curious whine. Kagewa turned around to see Kosame walking towards them with a ramen cup in her hands.

"Um hey, I was wondering if it's cool if I eat lunch with you guys. Since we're going to be teammates and all. If not it's cool." She said, her voice steady and confident but low as if she was already expecting rejection.

"Sure thing, Kosame, that's a good idea. We should really get to know each other more." Tate replied. Aomaru barked happily in agreement as Kosame sat down with the three boys.

* * *

"Man I gotta be the luckiest guy in the world!" Chomaru exclaimed to Mesu and Inoue, causing the two girls to laugh.

"Well I mean, it was pretty much set in stone that we'd get teamed up right?" Inoue said, but Chomaru shrugged the logic off.

"Yeah I know, but still. I'm really glad guys to have you two on my team." He said, his smile growing impossibly bigger. It fell, however, when a loud voice called out to them.

"Hey fatass!" A boy cried. Chomaru turned to face his fellow Genin.

"What do you want Kawasura?" He asked, an irritated hint in his voice. Kawasura, flanked by his two fellow bullies and teammates, folded his arms defiantly.

"What kind of sucking up to the Hokage did you have to do to get paired with Inoue and Mesu?" He shouted out mockingly. Chomaru glared but didn't say anything.

"Go away Kawasura," Inoue snapped. Kawasura ignored her.

"Come on fatass, what'd you do? Did you promise to eat all Hokage-sama's leftovers or something?" Kawasura continued.

"I bet he only got on that team because his fatass dad knows the Hokage!" One of Kawasura's lackies taunted. At this Chomaru snapped, rushing the three boys.

"Don't you talk about my dad like that!" Chomaru shouted as he lunged toward the lackey who barely managed to move out the way. The other two took the opportunity to jump on Chomaru, but were stopped by a shuriken sailing in front of them.

"Hey, don't even think about it!" Inoue shouted.

"How dare you talk about the Hokage like that! You three don't even deserve to be Genin!" Mesu shouted angrily. Chomaru looked at Mesu. Kawasura and his friends had really touched a sore spot since Mesu hated when people talked ill of her father, the Hokage.

* * *

"So here we are Sarutobi," Hikaru declared as he found Sarutobi Ryo sitting under a rather large oak tree. The brown-haired boy glanced up at his new teammate and then slid his headband over his eyes.

"What do you want Kennohou?" Ryo was clearly annoyed at having his alone-time ruined, especially by Hikaru.

"Look, one of us has to be the leader so we might as well figure it out here and now." Hikaru said as he cracked his knuckles. Ryo sighed and stood up, then tightened his forehead protecter so that it wouldn't fall over his eyes.

"If you wanna fight, just say so." Ryo said with a smirk. Hikaru smirked back and the fight was about to begin when a small voice spoke up.

"Please don't fight," Yakumo squeaked. The two boys glanced over to see their third teammate, who had seemingly come from nowhere. Yakumo was always so quiet and soft-spoken, no one ever really noticed her coming. As they looked at her, the boys couldn't bring themselves to fight. At least, not in front of her.

"Fine," Ryo said before slumping back down on his tree. Hikaru let out a quick 'hmph' and sat down. The two boys sat in silence while Yakumo stood awkwardly.

"You gonna sit down and relax or what?" Hikaru asked, harsher than he had intended. Yakumo nodded and promptly sat down. Hikaru let out a sigh.

Welcome to the real world.

* * *

**Well, this chapter was a lot longer than I intended it to be, but I like the way it turned out. I'm glad I got to show off most of the characters although the final squad (Team 4) will have to wait until the next chapter to get their spotlight. I stole Yakumo Kurama from the fillers and there are some edits to her character (I think she was more headstrong and defiant in the filler arc, but I don't feel like watching that again). There's a little easter egg in here for those of you who caught it and there's one or two more in the story as well. Not full blown crossovers or anything, just little appearances I wanted to do.**

**Well, I hope you are interested and if so please leave a review; tell me what I need to work on or just say if you like it. Thanks for reading :D**


	2. A Rude Awakening: Genin, Meet Your Sense

**Chapter 2 - A Rude Awakening: Genin, Meet Your Sensei!**

The meeting of Cell 4 was a rather awkward one. Syusuke and Tsubame knew each other, but were more acquaintances than actual friends. And Ame had never really talked to either of them. Regardless, Hato didn't seem to mind. In fact, she had not stopped staring at Ame since she had walked in.

"Um, Hato, not to be rude, but is there something I can help you with?" Ame asked, trying not to sound as uncomfortable as she felt. Hato blinked in surprise.

"Oh wow, I'm sooo sorry Ame, I kinda got lost in my own thoughts." Tsubame said with a nonchalant laugh. Ame laughed humorlessly and looked at Syusuke, a quiet boy who always had a sweet smile on his face and his eyes seemingly closed. Ame wondered if he was sleeping.

"But Ame, what's it like living with _the _Sakura? I bet you never got hurt as a child, huh?" Tsubame asked excitedly. Ame blinked in confusion and then sighed. Another one of her mother's many fans.

"Actually, I trained a lot with my father and my mom only helped out when I overdid it. Otherwise, I was on my own." Ame explained. To her surprise, Tsubame didn't seem shocked at the revelation.

"Interesting. So can you do any medical techniques? Sorry I keep asking you all these questions, but I want to be a medic-nin one day so I was kinda hoping maybe you had some pointers." Unlike many of Sakura's other fans, Tsubame had a certain gravity when she spoke about being a medic. '_She must be really serious about being a medic-nin_, Ame thought.

"Well, I know the basics, but that's about it. I'm more interested in my dad's TaiJutsu than being a medical ninja. If you want, I can talk to my mom though. Maybe she could-"

"Oh my gosh, no way!" Tsubame blurted out, accidently cutting Ame off. "I'm nowhere _near_ ready to train under Sakura. I can only hope that I'll be able to some day work under such a legendary medic-nin!" Tsubame continued, her eyes glazing over as she began to dream about her potential future. Ame tried to snap her out of it, but to no avail. With a sigh, she went to sit by Syusuke.

"She really is pumped about her dream, huh?" The slightly feminine-looking boy asked in his usual relaxed, soft voice. Had it not been so smooth, Ame might have jumped at how suddenly it came.

"Oh, Syusuke, I didn't know you were awake. But yeah, Tsubame really is determined. What about you, Syusuke? Do you have any dreams for the future?"

* * *

It had been a quick skirmish between Cell 1 and Kawasura and his thugs, but the latter had been soundly defeated. Regardless, they continued to throw insults at Chomaru as they ran off with their tails between their legs.

"Ugh, what jerks!" Mesu exclaimed, stamping her foot. Inoue crossed her arms.

"I know. Ugh, Chomaru, don't worry about them. They're just a bunch of jealous losers. You're a super talented ninja." She exclaimed with a smile. Chomaru beamed at her.

"Yeah I know, I'm just sorry you guys had to get involved in it. I'm especially sorry to you Mesu. They had no right to say what they said about your dad." Mesu stopped her seething and sighed.

"I'm not even worried about Chomaru. I know my dad's a good man and a good Hokage. Besides, with the ass-kicking we gave them, they'll never say anything bad about us and our families again!" Mesu shouted, pumping her fist into the air. Chomaru followed suit, and Inoue laughed pleasantly at the two.

"So you three at Squad 1, hm?" An adult's voice asked. The trio turned to see a medium-height woman with short black and light grey eyes. She wore a white robe over her flak jacket and a pair of black pants.

"Um, who are you?" Mesu asked defensively. As the daughter of the Hokage, she was no stranger to being approached by strangers and she knew there was a squad of ANBU ninja within earshot of her. The woman put her hands up defensively.

"Forgive me, I am Takamine Yuri, the Jonin instructor for Squad 1." The woman said, equally aware that there was a guard somewhere close by. Yuri made a quick mental note to talk with the Hokage about the guard. It would be an unfair advantage during missions and the girl would never grow if she got used to having ANBU appear at her beck-and-call.

"Oh alright then, yup that's us!" Chomaru exclaimed happily. Inoue gave a sheepish grin.

"Chomaru, you can't just go announcing stuff like that. Mesu _is _the Hokage's daughter." Inoue whispered, causing Chomaru to go red.

"Er I mean, um, we might be Squad 1. If you're really our sensei." Chomaru said with renewed suspicious. Yuri gave a sheepish laugh while Mesu sighed.

"It's nice to meet you Yuri-sensei. I'm Nara Mesu." Mesu introduced politely. Taking the hint, Chomaru and Inoue introduced themselves accordingly.

"Well then, it's a pleasure to meet you three and I look forward to working with you. Now that we've all been introduced, would you three like to run some errands with me?"

* * *

"Oi, you're pretty old aren't you? Are you sure you should be a Jonin instructor?" Ryo asked bluntly, causing Hikaru to laugh. Iruka simply shrugged.

"I probably am too old to be doing this. But if the Hokage thinks I'm enough to handle you three, then what does that say about you?" The former Academy instructor asked nonchalantly. Both Hikaru and Ryo glared at him.

"What was that?" Hikaru growled. Iruka smirked. _Reminds me of Naruto back in the day, _Iruka thought with a smile.

"So then, let's talk about your goals in life. I think that'll be fun, no?" Ryo and Hikaru grumbled incoherently about the implied insult while Yakumo smiled to herself at the joke. Iruka quickly glanced at her. She certainly didn't look like she was capable of causing chaos in an entire village. Still, Shikamaru had put him in charge of her for a reason.

"I hear you three are the best in your class when it comes to your specific skills," Iruka began causing Hikaru and Ryo to perk up. They clearly enjoyed being referred to as the best.

* * *

_"_What the hell is up with this fatass?" Kagewa grumbled as he and Aomaru, who was currently in his Man-Beast Clone state, landed next to Tate and Kosame. Three were covered in sweat by now as they faced off with their dark-skinned and admittedly fat sensei. Regardless, the man was impossibly fast for his size and in the fifteen to twenty minutes since he had arrived on the Academy rooftop, squad 6 had been unable to touch him.

"I don't know! No one that fat has a right to be so fast." Tate said as he leapt into the air and unleashed another volley of weapons towards Issa who easily dodged to the side and was made his way towards Kagewa.

"**Fang Over Fang**!" Kagewa shouted as he and Aomaru lunged towards Issa at a speed most individuals would find impossible to keep up with. Issa however, disappeared, only to reappear behind the duo. Noticing a sudden increase in temperature, Issa dodged to his right in order to avoid a massive fireball from Kosame, who looked stunned.

"Are you serious?" Kosame shouted incredulously. Without hesitating, Tate threw two shuriken that spread out to flank Issa who disappeared again as the two shuriken collided with each other and exploded.

"Kosame, now, he can't doge in the air!" Tate shouted as he began summoning and throwing weapons at a rapid pace towards the airborne Issa. Kosame nodded and followed suit, launching small fireballs into the air. Issa let out a bellowing laugh as the massive amounts of weapons and fireballs connected with his location. When the smoke cleared, all that was visible was the charred and otherwise demolished remains of a tree branch.

"Hey chibi, that was pretty dangerous." Issa said, appearing behind Tate, much to the latter's shock. And then Issa's words registered in Tate's mind.

"Who the hell are you calling chibi, you fatass-sensei!" He snapped, causing Issa to laugh. Despite his annoyance, Tate had to admit; Issa could probably eat him. After all, Tate was no bigger than a 7-year-old and even that was being fairly generous.

"Like I said you three, they call me "The Tank" Mihotoko Issa and I'm gonna whip you three into tip-top shape! Gotta say though, you brats gave me a helluva workout. I think I'll have some barbecue. Also, meet back here tomorrow afternoon. I'm out." Issa said, before walking off.

"Wait, what the hell? What do you mean "I'm out"? You can't just fight us like that and then walk away!" Kagewa shouted, although he was clearly exhausted. At this Issa stopped. He turned around, eyed his team and scoffed.

"I'll tell you what, you three got guts I'll give you that. You also got a lotta talent individually and a lotta potential as a team." Issa began, actually being serious for the first time since he showed up. "But you three need to work on covering each other's asses out there." Issa continued before pointing towards Tate.

"Chibi, you're way too small to be going after a guy like me head-on. You got a good head on your shoulders, so use it." The fat Jonin said. As if to prove his point, Tate sank to the ground as did Kosame, who Issa pointed to next. "Girlie, you're an Uchiha right? You're far too valuable to be sitting there trying to waste me on your own. Don't put so much pressure on yourself."

Finally, Issa turned to Kagewa and smirked. "And you Dog-boy. Look at ya, you're the only one left standing. You're the strongman in this group. You got a brain in Chibi and an Uchiha in Girlie. _They're_ the ones the enemy's gonna go after which means _you're_ the one who's gotta play both defense and offense. _You _gotta be your teammates backbone."

Kagewa stared at the man, stunned. Here was this obese man with no shirt, looking absolutely ridiculous. And yet, he was brilliant. Then, just like that, the man was gone. The three Genin of Squad 6 just sat on the roof of the Academy in a stunned silence.

"W-What the hell is our sensei?!" Tate and Kagewa exclaimed loud enough so that all of Konohagakure could hear their struggle.

**So yeah, I think these long chapters are gonna be a thing. There's just too much going on in each chapter. Poor Squad 4 keeps getting left out. Don't worry though, they will get some love. And by the way, there you have the first official couple of the story: LeeSaku. Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy this. Props to whoever can get the easter egg and please leave reviews, they make me feel good about myself.**


	3. The End of Hell Week

**Chapter 3: The End of Hell Week  
**

It had been a long, mostly painful week for Team 6. Every day began and ended with a brutal training session with their sensei Mihotoko Issa that left the kids battered and bruised all over. On the bright side, however, what Issa called "hell week" was finally over.

"What's wrong man?" Oumaru Tate asked his best friend, Inuzuka Kagewa. The brunette looked down at his much shorter friend, sighed, and looked back in front of him.

"It's nothing Tate," the Inuzuka responded in a despondent tone. Tate sighed and the small dog on the top of his head made an equally exasperated sound.

"You sure? I mean, you look pretty bad for someone who just finished Issa-sensei's hell week." The two made their way to Konoha's central park and sat down before Kagewa continued the conversation.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just..." Kagewa's voice trailed, much to Tate's chagrin.

"Dude, this moping thing isn't you. Just tell me what's wrong." Kagewa sighed again and looked up to the quickly darkening Konoha sky. It was autumn and the air seemed unable to decide whether it wanted to be warm or cool, choosing instead to fluctuate between the two.

"Is it about Issa-sensei and the training?" Tate guessed.

"Why would it be about that?" Kagewa moped.

"Well I mean, sensei got on you way more than me and Kosame, so I guess I could-"

"It sucks!" Kagewa snapped, cutting of his best friend. Both Tate and Kagewa's dog, Aomaru, blinked in surprise. "I mean, every single day this week it was 'you need to be faster', 'you're not this enough', or you're not that enough'! It's like I couldn't do anything right!" Tate let the taller boy rant for a few more minutes, gracefully ignoring the concerned stares that the other villagers gave them. Finally, Kagewa was done shouting and resigned himself to glaring at the ground in front of him.

Aomaru barked, effectively bringing his owner's attention to Tate.

"Look, Kagewa, don't let it get to you. I mean, Issa-sensei kept getting on to you because he has faith in you. Like he said, you're kinda our first and last line of defense at the same time. Or whatever it is he was saying." Kagewa broke into a smile in spite of himself. Tate patted his buddy on the shoulder and flashed him that trademarked 7-year-old-esque grin.

"Thanks Chibi. It's just frustrating, you know?" Tate smiled and sat back on the bench, for once ignoring the chibi remark.

* * *

"Well here it is, team." One of the scientists said, showing off a massive sandbox. Team 1 looked at the sandbox and were rather underwhelmed.

"This is the big secret that's supposed to help usher in a new level of training for ninjas young and old? It's a sandbox." Nara Mesu said, her arms folded across her chest. The scientist who spoke attempted to defend the sandbox but was cut off by Yamanaka Inoue.

"Yeah, I don't really get it. Is it help us to maneuver in sand just in case we ever have to grant them aid?" She wondered aloud. The scientist sighed. No one spoke for a while and the scientist finally saw his chance to defend the creation.

"Guys, I'm sure it has a legitimate purpose. I mean, Mesu, your dad approved of it, right? So it has to do something." Akimichi Choumaru stated, cutting the scientist off again. The team's jounin, Takamine Yuri, chuckled softly at the poor man's vain attempt at explanation. He cleared his throat, causing the team to glance at him. Once all eyes were on him, the scientist puffed out his chest, glad to finally get the attention he so rightly deserved_._

"This 'sandbox' as you so lightly called it, is actually called the Konoha Ninja Carnival. It's something that we've been working on for months now." He said as he walked over to a small box raised on a pole. Team 1 followed him, glancing at the several other scientists that were observing them.

"Ninja Carnival, huh? Well where's the carnival part?" Inoue asked curtly. The presenting scientists scowled at her before he pushed a button. There was a small whirring sound and the team watched as a platform began to rise out of the sand. At this, Mesu visibly perked up and even Yuri seemed particularly interested.

"It's designed to simulate various scenarios in rapid-time at a set pace. It has about thirty settings as it is right now, ranging from Academy student to even experienced Jounin. Of course, you will be our first real testers..." the presenter stated. At this the team quickly turned to face him.

"What? You're using as a guinea pigs?!" They exclaimed incredulously.

"Exactly!" The presenter said with huge smile and a thumbs-up.

"You must be out of your mind," Inoue shot back harshly.

"Don't you know who I am?" Mesu responded blankly.

"Is this even safe?" Chomaru asked rhetorically. The presenter sighed. To his surprise, however, it was Yuri who spoke up.

"Team, this is your mission. Your _first _mission, might I add. How you do, and act, here has a significant impact on the kinds of missions you'll receive in the future." The kids sighed and looked at the smugly smiling presenter. Then Yuri turned to face him.

"And surely you have medical ninja standing by, correct?" She asked with a kind smile. The presenter blinked.

"Huh?"

"You don't honestly expect to have the Hokage's youngest child go through an untested machine like this without medics on hand, do you?" She asked, her smile growing simultaneously sweeter and more threatening. The presenter paled and looked hopefully at his fellow researchers, who looked and mumbled at each other softly.

"You should probably get on that." Yuri suggested. The presenter ran off to find free medics while Team 1 looked at their sensei in a whole new light.

"Alright, I guess I'll start from the first settings." Yuri said as she stood at the beginning of the platform.

"Okay! Ready, set, go!" The presenter shouted before pressing a button. Yuri took her first step and stopped. So far nothing. Slowly, she made her way forward. Suddenly two short pillars rose from the ground and launched two pouches at the jounin. Yuri easily dodged them and was mildly surprised when they exploded, sending some type of red dust into the air behind her.

"Wow, Yuri-sensei is making this look so easy." Mesu said. Mesu truly admired her sensei. Yuri was beautiful, graceful, and yet commanding as well. Sometimes Mesu forgot that her sensei was a ninja and instead thought of Yuri as some sort of model sometimes.

* * *

"Yo," came the booming voice that Team 4 had learned to recognize as their sensei Nami Kawamura.

"You're late Kawamura-sensei," Lee Ame scolded. The sight was rather comical - a 12-year-old girl scolding the massive giant-of-a-man who was the current leader of Team 4. Kawamura looked down at her and shrugged, much to the girl's chagrin.

"Sorry, I got hungry and started eating. Guess I lost track of time." The red-haired man said before yawning. Ame scoffed.

"You are so unprofessional, Kawamura-sensei! How did you even become a jounin?" Ame demanded. Kawamura groaned and looked at Fuji Syusuke for help, but the brunette simply shrugged. Ame kept talking while Kawamura began moving forward.

"Come on, we have another mission. Something about carrots or something." He said.

"Hey! Don't just ignore me!" Ame exclaimed. Syusuke chuckled as he followed Ame and Kawamura towards the northern part of the village. The group had made it a few feet when they noticed that their final member was missing.

"Where's Tsubame?" Ame asked, looking around. Finally, she found the blonde-haired kunoichi sitting on the ground, drawing something in the dirt. The team quietly gathered around her, although they knew that no matter how loud they were, Tsubame's focus was unbreakable.

"Tsubame?" Ame asked, gently placing a hand on the other girl's shoulder. Tsubame pushed the hand off without looking up. On the ground before her was a small diagram of what appeared to be a human body. All was silent until Tsubame finally clapped her hands together and erased the diagram. She stood up, nearly headbutting Syusuke.

"Ah Syusuke! I'm so sorry! Whoa, why are you guys so close? Is something wrong?" Tsubame asked. Ame and Kawamura sighed. Syusuke simply laughed through his forever-present smile.

"It's nothing Tsubame, we were just wondering what you were drawing." He asked. Tsubame smiled back at him.

"I just had to make sure of something really fast. It's kind of complicated, but-"

"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm no medical ninja." Syusuke said, lifting his hands. Tsubame frowned and cocked her head to the side.

"But Syusuke, you're one of the smartest kids in our class. You'd probably understand more than me or Kawamura-sensei." Ame stated. Kawamura looked up absentmindedly.

"I don't know about that, Ame. Even if your mother taught you nothing about medicine, I'm sure your potential in the field is just as good as Syusuke's." He said, although it appeared more like he was talking to himself than to the team. Kawamura, noticing the silence, looked at his team.

"Come on already, we have a mission we're supposed to be doing." The jounin stated before walking away. Ame and Tsubame looked at each other and then at Syusuke who simply smiled and followed after his sensei. Ame frowned.

"Why is Syusuke always so aloof?" Ame muttered to herself.

"I don't know. His family seems nice enough."

"Well come on, let's catch up with the guys." Ame said, leading Tsubame towards the rest of their team.

* * *

"Yakumo, may you please break them up?" Umino Iruka requested with a deep sigh. Kurama Yakumo nodded obediently and set her sights on her two teammates - Kennohou Hikaru and Sarutobi Ryo,

This sparring match was intense, even by Hikaru and Ryo's standards, which worried Iruka. He wasn't sure quite how it started, but Iruka blinked and suddenly Hikaru's hands and feet were on fire, Ryo was spitting fire, and the two were well on their way to destroying their fifth training ground.

Hikaru barely managed to dodge a fireball and quickly closed the gap between him and Ryo. The Sarutobi took a fist to the stomach and found himself flying backwards. As he sailed, Ryo could just make out Hikaru sprinting towards him. He didn't hesitate to start forming handseals.

"**Suiton****: Great Cloud Explosion Jutsu**!" Ryo shouted. He could Hikaru yelp as a fine mist suddenly shot from the ground. Hikaru inwardly cursed as the flames around his hands and feet began to dim. Just barely he could make out Ryo charging towards him, fingers flying in various handseal combination. Hikaru braced himself for impact when a massive vine erupted from the ground and pulled him backwards. Similarly, Ryo also found himself being pulled backwards by a thick vine.

And just like that, the vines were gone as was the mist. In their place stood Iruka and Yakumo.

"Thank you, Yakumo." Iruka said, his voice taking on the strict tone it took when he was about to scold Ryo and Hikaru.

"This is getting ridiculous you two." Iruka said, forcing himself not to think of the pair of students he had over thirty years ago who had similar fights. "Do you guys realize that you are burning your village? This is our _fifth _training ground. If you don't pull it together, so help me I will send you straight back to the Academy. Do you understand me?"

"Geez, Iruka-sensei was really mad today." Ryo said to Hikaru as the two sat under the tree of their training ground, exhausted. Iruka had made them run GenJutsu practice with Yakumo as well as weaponry. And he pulled very few punches. Ryo's fingers were still tingling from when he had been hit in the shoulder with an expertly placed senbon.

"Yeah. Maybe we did sort of go overboard today though..." Hikaru responded as he leaned back.

"It's not fair though. How come everyone else gets to have epic rivalries? I mean look at Naruto and Sasuke or Kakashi and Gai! Those guys have had _epic_ clashes! And they don't get in trouble!" Ryo exclaimed.

"They never endangered the village in their clashes, Ryo." Came Iruka's voice. Ryo and Hikaru jumped as their sensei suddenly appeared in front of them. The two boys said nothing, but averted their gazes.

"Look you guys, there's nothing wrong with having a rival to help you push yourself," Iruka said before launching into a long and rather boring lecture that neither Ryo or Hikaru wanted to hear.


End file.
